I was 12 years old when I decided I wanted to be a filmmaker. Ever since, I have imagined, re-imagined and re-worked a vision of what a movie of Isaac Asimov's short story series I, Robot might be like, starting with the original stories, analyzing Harlan Ellison's unmade screen adaptation, and otherwise figuring out what movies are made of. I had no doubt that when a movie was actually made that it would be drastically different from what I had in mind and would disappoint me by comparison, but this trailer [Quicktime, 30MB] makes me terribly upset. There's a real possibility that the trailer was cut from a better film for the Will Smith summer action audience, and the full movie might actually be something I'll enjoy watching, but hopes are very low, and I'm trying not to think about it. (I was kind of hoping Will Smith would be playing a robot, but even that is too sophisticated for a Hollywood film.)
March 15, 2004
comments...
or you can entertain yourself with memories of Robin Williams at the other end of the positronic franchise in "Bicentennial Man."
This definitely isn't Asimov's "I, Robot." But that doesn't mean it won't be a good movie; I quite liked Proyas's "Dark City" -- a Hollywood sci-fi noir that actually provided a reason that everything was dark all the time.
One time Hollywood optioned an obscure short story by Alan Nourse solely for the title. The movie it ended up on had nothing to do with the original short story, yet that film went on to become a milestone in science fiction cinema. It was "Blade Runner."